A judge has filed a criminal complaint against an opposition lawmaker for criticizing an ongoing trial in which high school girls and others are accused of alleged membership in a terrorist organization, Turkish Minute reported, citing the Bold Medya news website.
The trial of 41 individuals, including university students and high school girls, focuses on routine social and educational activities such as playing sports together, living in shared student housing, meeting at malls and ordering food through delivery apps — activities that authorities allege are linked to the Gülen movement.
Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, an MP from the pro-Kurdish Democracy and Equality Party (DEM Party) and a prominent human rights advocate, said in a video message released on X on Saturday that Şenol Kartal, the judge presiding over the trial at the İstanbul 24th High Criminal Court, had filed a complaint against him for his criticism of the prosecution as “unlawful.”
“Criticizing a trial has become a crime, my friends. … [Criticism] is my most natural right; I am a member of parliament, I was there on behalf of the people, and I criticized it on their behalf. What could be more natural than that?” the lawmaker said.
Gergerlioğlu also called on Kartal, whom he described as having been a lawyer within the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) organization before suddenly and suspiciously becoming a judge and signing numerous unlawful rulings in line with the government’s wishes, to avoid being overly influenced by partisan politics in favor of the AKP and instead, to uphold the rule of law.
The development comes after Kartal ordered Gergerlioğlu to leave the courtroom during the hearing on September 24 for criticizing the trial.
The incident occurred on the second day of the trial following a series of tweets posted by Gergerlioğlu the previous evening in which he criticized the court proceedings and the charges against the defendants.
The lawmaker had filed a complaint with the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) against Kartal for acting beyond the scope of the law by removing him from the courtroom.
The Turkish government, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accused the faith-based Gülen movement of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, although Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, and the movement deny any involvement. Since the coup, Erdoğan’s government has carried out a sweeping crackdown, investigating more than 700,000 people on terrorism-related allegations, many of them for tenuous links to the Gülen movement.
Thousands of people in Turkey were convicted of terrorism simply because of actions such as using a mobile phone application known as ByLock; membership in a labor union or an association affiliated with the Gülen movement; having an account at the now-closed Bank Asya; sending their children to Gülen-linked schools; or having subscriptions to Gülen-affiliated publications, which are all considered signs of membership in the Gülen movement and criminal evidence.
Human rights organizations, both in Turkey and internationally, have condemned the Turkish government for using anti-terror laws to silence dissent and persecute political opponents. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has repeatedly criticized Turkey’s misuse of its anti-terror laws, particularly Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes membership in an armed terrorist organization. The current trial, critics argue, is yet another example of the overreach of these laws.
